Weekend of March 12, 2006
Return from driving and driving.... Ruffian
auditions.
So I got a call last week for a callback. It was
an ESPN film called Ruffian... about the thoroughbred race horse that helped
revive the sport of horse racing in the early 1970's. I had read for the role
of Dinny Phipps three weeks prior on the same day I read for a pilot for a new
series called Travellers. Both projects are being cast by the Fincannons in
Wilmington, NC and will be shooting in Shreveport, LA.
The callback was going to be in
Louisiana on Wednesday the 8th at 10:30 AM so I set about weighing the pros and
cons of going.
First, I wanted to
determine what I had in my favor. I asked my agent, Rusty Wiggs at Artists'
Resource Agency, what the circumstances were surrounding the callback. The
director had preferred another actor's read and wanted to cast him but I bore a
resemblance to Dinny Phipps and when the ESPN folks asked to be involved in the
casting they liked the fact I favored him. Further conversations with the
casting director revealed that my original read was based on a different set of
direction for the scenes than was used later. I would have a chance to meet
with him the day prior to the callback for a pre-read and I would be able to
adjust my performance for the new direction. It sounded like roughly a
fifty/fifty chance to me.. and one not to pass
up.
I have teaching responsibilities
at Old Dominion University and at the The Actors' Place. Fortunately it was
Spring Break at ODU and so I would not miss any classes and I had arranged for
John Forte, a local producer/director, to teach the Tuesday night class but
decided that driving would be a more cost effective way to get to Louisiana. My
responsibilities mostly covered, I began checking flights... they were either
$1000 into Shreveport or $650 into Dallas which was still 3 hours away and I
would have to rent a car. In the end I determined that the only cost effective
way to get there was to rent a car and drive the 20 hours each
way.
It would work out to about
$500 for car, hotel, meals, and gas. For those of you unfamiliar with what
actors do, we do not get paid to attend auditions. All of our expenses prior to
being cast are our own responsibility. This is why it is always necessary to
perform a cost/benefit analysis. For instance, if the role were only one scene,
often just a day of work, the pay would be roughly $770 for an 8 hour day (which
includes a +10% for your agent's commission)... half is gone to taxes so $385...
your agent gets that $70.. so that's $335.. then you figure in the audition
costs that you had to pay for to get the job... $500 in this case... oh yeah,
plus that first trip for the first round of auditions... roughly $100.. so $335
minus $600 in audition expenses.. you lost $265 by pursuing the job. This job
at 3-4 weeks was well worth the risk at a $500 audition
trip.
In the southeast there is a
provision built into the Screen Actor's Guild's contract that requires producers
to provide travel, per diem, and lodging to hired actors should we live a
distance greater than about 50 miles from the production. Called the "Southeast
Travel Waiver," this was an acknowledgment of the vast distances actors in the
region must travel to audition and work. For a short time after being codified
the waiver was provided without debate. Soon, however, casting directors
motivated by job competition began offering producers a cost savings by claiming
they would provide only "local hires" thus avoiding all that costly travel
money. The trouble is they were hiring the same actors they always had been.
The casting directors had placed a condition on audition for a job... "you must
be willing to be a local hire." Thus actors, hungry little beasts that we are,
gave up their waiver for the chance of being cast. Now, such behavior from
casting directors is not uncommon. The most egregious example of this occurs in
the DC/Baltimore/Philadelphia market. In this market, most casting directors
bypass agent representation, thus leaving actors to negotiate for themselves.
Fight for what you are worth and you don't get called for an audition again.
Try to invoke the southeast travel waiver, and you won't get called for an
audition again. Try to complain to the union and they will say it is the
actors' fault for whoring themselves... this is true. New actors are so hungry
for work and credits that they will undermine a rule meant to help compensate
them in order to take a job. I suggest that it IS the union's responsibility to
stop the inherent conflict of interested presented by casting directors
bypassing agent representation. This subject will rear its ugly head again here
as it is one of my primary ethical pet peeves about this market in
DC.
I left Monday at noon, after a 10AM
voiceover, and drove to just past Atlanta, slept at a hotel, then drove the
balance of the 1200 miles the second day arriving in Shreveport . I had an hour
or so to rest, followed by the pre read session with Mark Fincannon. We spent
about 20 minutes working on the piece in preparation for the callback. As I
mentioned before, my first read was "off." I was asked to play Dinny as a true
salesman and promoter of horse racing. In the pre read we adjusted the
character to make his relationships more personal and allow him more
introspection. We found that in the text and ran each scene two or three times
until I felt I had a grasp on it. I went to dinner at a restaurant I knew from
my childhood called Ralph and Kackoo's, had some good fried catfish and
hushpuppies, then retired to the hotel to sleep. Next day I had breakfast with
Mike, an actor from Charlotte, NC that I had seen at many auditions but had
never really spoken to. I had asked him at the pre read if he wanted to grab
breakfast before the callback. We had a nice conversation at the Waffle House
and went to the callback.
I am tired
and will continue this story tomorrow after I arrive in Wilmington NC for a
first read for Evan Almighty, the sequel to Bruce Almighty. It'll give me a
chance to see my dad who is in hospital with some heart
issues.
Posted: Sun - March 12, 2006 at 11:55 PM